Amherst College- Classes Will Move to Remote Learning to Mitigate COVID-19

THanson
Tue, 10 Mar 2020 22:27:54 +0000

I called this morning and asked about refunding room and board.
Called the number on Biddy’s email.
They told me they would be giving a pro rata refund of the room and board portion of the Comprehensive Fee.
I suggest as many parents call and confirm, to help lock them down on this.
My child is a senior and I too have been full pay. After being denied any financial aid. It hasn’t been easy.
It is only fair for them to refund. There is no basis for this action. It’s not required by anything, there’s no government declared emergency affecting the campus, there’s no known cases in the area, etc.
It’s not what’s recommended by CDC or any other guidelines.
In fact, it’s contrary to guidelines. It is a forced “reverse quarantine” and it is forcing 1,800 students to leave a relatively safe area and spread throughout the country, unnecessarily traveling and many flying long distances, layovers etc.
It’s also not in line with what the other 3,000+ colleges are doing or likely to do.
My point I guess is this is on Amherst and its administration. It’s certainly not being forced on them by anything or anyone, and it’s questionable whose interest(s) they are looking out for by taking this extreme and hasty action. They’ll do what they want, but I see no reasonable argument for refusing to refund room and board.